In light of my name, I thought a review of a film entitled Whip It would be a natural. I had never heard of the film before and only knew that it starred Ellen Page and involved Roller Derby, a “sport” that I thought had disappeared from view long ago. You never know about these things as every now and then a film comes up that takes you totally by surprise with how entertaining it is. Whip It is just such a film.
Film 
I must say that I was not expecting much when I first gave this disc a spin. However, it didn’t take long before I was pulled into the story which features some great characters and a real good cast. Yes, Ellen Page is officially type cast as a perky sarcastic, wise cracking and rebellious teenager as is her character here but guess what, she really has that role down pat.
The film is based on a novel by Shauna Cross (who also wrote the screenplay) and stars Ellen Page as Bliss Cavender a 17 year old in a small town near Austin, Texas, who is bored with her life and wants to get out from under her parents’ control and make her own way in the world. She is struggling to find herself and be the person she wants to be, rather than the person her mother wants her to be. Her mother, played by Marcia Gay Harden, is a letter carrier by day and a beauty pageant mom at night and on the weekends, taking both her kids to local pageants, trying to achieve though her kids, what she presumably failed to achieve on her own. Her father is played by Daniel Stern. We never really learn what he does other than drink beer and watch football.
One day while out shopping with her mother for a new pair of boots, Bliss comes across a flyer for a woman’s roller derby league in Austin which intrigues her. She goes to a match with a friend and loves it and travels to Austin that week for a tryout wearing her old Barbie roller skates and makes the team and in the process, finds who she really is and what she wants to be. Even though she is smaller than the rest of the girls, she makes up for her lack of size with speed and grit, earning the name, Babe Ruthless. Along the way, she gets involved with a musician in a rock band, has a falling out with her mother and finds that leaving home and being on your own is not all that it is cracked up to be.
While Bliss’ character is the focus of the film, it is the other characters and in particular, her fellow teammates on the Hurl Scouts, which include the director of the film, Drew Barrymore and Kristen Wiig, who make the film so enjoyable. This is a charming and funny movie that is well worth you time. By all means give it a look, you will be glad you did. Recommended.
Video 
Simply put, this is a wonderful looking film and an excellent encode. The film features a well saturated and fairly natural colors that are a bit skewed with a golden glow at times but eye pleasing nonetheless. Blacks are deep and stable and shadow detail is excellent. The level of visual detail is excellent as well, with skin texture and background textures plainly visible. Depth and three dimensionality is excellent as well, creating an image of excellent depth. There is really not much here not to like about the film with the exception of some minor overall softness in some night time scenes . Film grain appears to be well preserved and I was not able to detect any evidence of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. This is a wonderful that is rendered beautifully on this Blu-ray release and should thrill fans of the film.
Audio
I was just as pleased with the audio as I was with the video. While I would not call the audio design a totally immersive experience, the surrounds are used effectively during the roller derby sequences, placing you right in the crowd during the matches. The remainder of the film is rather front heavy with the surrounds used mostly for subtle room ambiance. What really impressed me about the audio here is the overall fidelity which is top notch. The music score to the film sounds wonderful as well and dare I say it, very musical with excellent transparency, imaging and soundstaging.
While not a bombastic sounding film, bass response is excellent sounding deep and tight without a hint of bloat.. The quality of the bass is evident on the score as well as the action sequences as when a skater smacks head first in to the guard rail or is knocked down on her keister. The dialogue track is also well recorded and well placed in the mix, with every word of dialogue clearly audible. This is a fine sounding encode that should without question please fans of the film just as much as the video.
Special Features 
To say that the extras included here are threadbare would be an understatement. The extras consist of nine deleted scenes including an alternate opening to the film that are presented in widescreen standard definition. They add nothing to the film and it is easy to see why they were not included in the final version of the film.
Also included is a short Fox Movie Channel Presents featuring novelist and screenplay author Shauna Cross describing her inspiration for the novel that formed the basis of her screenplay. Also included is short music video featuring snippets of the songs included with the film. A digital copy of the film is also included compatible with Macs, PCs and all portable media devices. The release is not BD-Live enabled.
Final Thoughts
Whip It is a charming, well written and well acted film that was a real treat and something of a surprise. The fact that is features excellent audio and video presentations is a real bonus. This film is a little gem that is well worth a look. Recommended.
